Multiplexed ultrafast fiber laser emitting multi-state solitons

Ultrafast fiber lasers have been serving as an ideal playground for spreading the extensive industrial applications and exploring the optics nonlinear dynamics. Here, we report a bidirectional fiber laser scheme for validating the possibility of a multiplexed laser system, which is passively mode-locked by the nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) technique. In particular, the proposed fiber laser consists of one main cavity and two counter-propagating branches with different dispersion distributions. Thus, different formation mechanisms are introduced into the lasing oscillator. Consequently, stable conventional solitons (CSs) and dissipative solitons (DSs) are respectively formed in the clockwise (CW) and counterclockwise (CCW) directions of the same lasing oscillator. Moreover, attributing to the strong birefringence filtering effect, the wavelength selection mechanism is induced. Through the proper management of intra-cavity birefringence, wideband wavelength tuning and switchable multi-wavelength operations are experimentally observed. The central wavelength of CS can be continuously tuned from 1560 nm to 1602 nm. Additionally, the evolution process of different multi-wavelength operations is also elucidated. Benefiting from this multiplexed laser scheme, bidirectional lasing oscillation, multi-state soliton emission, wavelength tuning and multi-wavelength operations are synchronously realized in a single laser cavity. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time for such a multiplexed fiber laser has been reported. The results provide information for multifunctional ultrafast fiber laser system, which is potentially set for telecommunications, fiber sensing and optics signal processing, etc.